Fact Sheet Diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD)
- Major clinical manifestations of CVD
- Facts
- Glossary
- Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: Time to Act
- References
It is well established that diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), a term that refers to disease of the heart and circulatory system. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are closely linked to CVD and it is the main cause of death in people with diabetes.
Major clinical manifestations of CVD
These can be divided into three groups:
1. Those affecting the heart and coronary circulation (coronary heart disease - CHD)
A thickening of the walls in the coronary arteries or the occurrence of a blood clot in the coronary arteries will prevent blood reaching the heart, causing strain on the heart, which can ultimately lead to angina, myocardial infarction, or sudden death.
2. Those affecting the brain and cerebral circulation
An interruption of blood supply to the brain (as a result of cerebral haemorrhage or a cerebral thrombosis) will lead to a stroke, a sudden loss of function of part of the brain resulting in death (infarction) of an area within the brain.
3. Those affecting the lower limbs and feet (peripheral vascular disease)
Peripheral vascular disease often results from a narrowing of the vessels that carry blood to leg and arm muscles. The loss of blood supply can cause gangrene (death of tissue which can ultimately lead to amputation) and intermittent claudication.
- Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in diabetes, accounting for some 50% of all diabetes fatalities, and much disability.1
- On average, people with type 2 diabetes will die 5-10 years before people without diabetes and most of this excess mortality is due to cardiovascular disease.2
- People with type 2 diabetes are over twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as people who do not have diabetes. Indeed, people with type 2 diabetes are as likely to suffer a heart attack as people without diabetes who have already had a heart attack.3
- Strokes occur twice as often in people with diabetes and hypertension as in those with hypertension alone.3
- People with diabetes are 15-40 times more likely to have a lower limb amputation compared to the general population.3
- People with diabetes have two to four times the risk of developing atherosclerosis compared to people without diabetes.3
- The treatment of cardiovascular disease accounts for a large part of the huge healthcare costs attributable to type 2 diabetes, that have been estimated to account for 10-12% of European health care expenditure.
- Part of the cardiovascular risk associated with IGT and diabetes is undoubtedly due to their association with other cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, high LDL-cholesterol and low HDL-cholesterol and smoking.
- Lifestyle changes that improve blood glucose control e.g. weight loss, dietary changes and increased physical activity are also likely to improve these other cardiovascular risk factors.
Glossary
Angina: a pain in the chest due to reduced blood supply to the heart.
Myocardial infarction (also called a heart attack): an interruption of blood supply to the area of the heart muscle due to narrowed or blocked vessels.
Sudden death: the result from the sudden abrupt loss of heart function.
Atherosclerosis: the clogging of the arteries that in this case nourish the heart. For people with diabetes, too much glucose in the blood contributes to atherosclerosis.
Stroke: a sudden loss of function of part of the brain due to the interruption of its blood supply, resulting in death (infarction) of an area within the brain.
Gangrene: death of tissue due to a loss of blood supply which can ultimately lead to amputation.
Intermittent claudication: a pain usually in the calves when walking, due to impaired blood supply to the calf muscles which results from atherosclerosis.
Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: Time to Act
In 2001, IDF produced a publication on diabetes and cardiovascular disease aimed at raising awareness of the link between the two conditions and recommending courses of action to prevent or delay cardiovascular complications of diabetes.
Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: Time to Act is directed at decision makers in the health and social policy sectors, with the aim of raising awareness and influencing policy. It also serves to sensitize healthcare professionals to the need for the aggressive management of all cardiovascular risk factors in people with diabetes.
Click here to download the publication as a pdf file (2MB).
Since the publication's release, IDF has updated the information contained within it and made it available online. Visit www.cvd.idf.org.
References
1. Morrish NJ, Wang SL, Stevens LK, Fuller JH, keen H. Mortality and causes of death in the WHO Multinational Study of Vascular Disease in Diabetes. Diabetologia 2001;44 Suppl 2:S14-S21.
2. Donnelly R, Emslie-Smith AM, Gardner ID, Morris AD. Vascular complications of diabetes. British Medical Journal 2000; 320: 1062-6.
3. Haffner SM, Lehto S, Ronnemaa T, Pyorala K, Laakso M. Mortality from coronary heart disease in subjects with type 2 diabetes and in nondiabetic subjects with and without prior myocardial infarction. The New England Journal of Medicine 1998; 339: 229-34.
4. Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease: Time to Act, International Diabetes Federation 2001
